Michael grew up in Australia and lived there until he was 22. He initially travelled to the UK to study – to do a PhD in Mathematics at Cambridge. He moved back to Australia after that and spent five years in Sydney. Of his experience there he says “I love big cities, and I love travelling. None of Australia’s cities are anything like London, and Australia is too far from anywhere to go travelling, so I wasn’t happy in Australia”. This led him to move to London in 2002, where he has been ever since.

He has worked as an analyst for Citigroup and Credit Suisse and is now doing web development for an interesting start up that will “provide healthcare for those times the NHS isn’t there”.

In person Michael has a certain down to earth niceness that is very obvious. I expect this is an asset to him abroad. Certainly, as a travel addict, he has accumulated a circle of international friends to whom he is very committed. He has recently been tidying up his flat in order to accommodate one of their relatives who has also come to study in the UK.

The travel obsession has led Michael to become a bit an expert on how globalisation has been experienced on the ground all around the world. He gave a talk on this topic at Brian’s Last Friday which was well reviewed and interesting. He is also, of course, a Samizdatista who has written extensively, usually to highlight the peculiar, fun or horrendous things that he has seen.

His topic at the Rose and Crown this Thursday concerns the Russian influence in the territories at it’s borders and that it once occupied, or encroaches upon still, in particular the Ukraine.

If the history of Russia is not your specialist subject then Michael has produced a primer, for you to read ahead of his talk on Thursday October 2nd.